High Speed access to The Internet in Minneapolis: Company Broadband Internet, Gigabit Internet and Metro Ethernet Access

Today’s environment demands that companies in Minneapolis have reliable Internet service in order to run their business. Fortune 500 companies to small businesses and everything in between, count on reliable and fast access to The net.

In the coming months and years, we are going to become increasingly dependent on our access to the net.

The use of the net is pervasive. We use it for email and data sharing, video chat and VOIP, archiving and commerce. What is the right solution to meet your needs? A cable modem may be satisfactory. Your needs may point to Metro Ethernet as a solution. Gigabit Internet may satisfy your needs. Does your company in Minneapolis, Minnesota need one of these: 10 Meg Internet access, a 100 Meg access to The net point, a 50 meg circuit or a 5 meg circuit?

Access to the net: Determining Your Business’s Needs

Prior to selecting a service, your organization must figure out its needs. Will web surfing and email be your primary use of the web? Will real-time data connection with servers in the cloud be the primary use of the web? Do remote places count on you hosting the data in Minneapolis, Minnesota?

What will happen to your business if your high-speed Internet experiences an outage? Can your company afford the downtime? Is your success reliant on uptime? Ask yourself these questions before making any purchases. The answers will help you determine what is right for you.

Evaluating Different High-Speed Internet Solutions in Minneapolis

High-speed access to the web is something all companies need. An analysis of the costs and benefits should be done prior to choosing the broadband internet that is correct for your company. You will hear providers use terms like:

High-speed access to the Internet

Corporate Internet

We provide broadband cable modems

Metro Ethernet service provider

Gigabit Internet services

MPLS network

Services related to point-to-point circuits

Internet access circuits-5 Meg

10 Meg access to The Internet circuits

Internet access- 50 megabytes

One hundred Meg access to The Internet circuits provided

Sip trunking experts

Internet access dedicated to you and only you

… and much more

… do not stray from the real issues. Focus on what your company’s needs are and what capabilities and technical solutions will help satisfy them.

Business Internet access for Surfing the Worldwide Web

Most companies in Minneapolis, Minnesota require that some or all of their workers have access to the web. It may be needed for organization research, to order office supplies or other reasons.

The best solution may rely on how many employees you have. An Internet circuit of 5 -10 megabytes might be enough for your company if you only have a few people working for you. If your organization has nearly 50 people, however, and they all need to use the web at the same time, you may find that more is better.

Do your employees primarily use an intranet system? If so, you may not need much high-speed Internet service. When they are frequently downloading things, whether documents, graphics or videos, however, speed is necessary for efficient job performance.

Are you regularly performing backups? It is recommended that you do remote backups from every desk. If you are, you will need to support simultaneous connections out to the web to synchronize the backup data to collect.

Google drive and DropBox are two popular sharing services. Are you using one of these or some other service that allows you to share files? This is how a file sharing service works: You save a file. Then the file is pushed to the cloud, and is then synchronized with other people’s computers. You must have sufficient bandwidth if you are to successfully support every service including file sharing.

High-speed business access to The net like Metro Ethernet and gigabit Internet may be viable options for you depending on your location. They are almost always found in “lit buildings” in Minneapolis, Minnesota that are already wired by a carrier. Installing high-speed Internet may not be as difficult and expensive as you think.

While it may be the case that bringing Metro Ethernet into a new building can cause a big dent in your wallet, bringing the connection to a suite or offices within that building does not have to. Also, securing high-speed access to The web using gigabit Internet or Metro Ethernet often takes less than 30 days, depending on its availability.

Hosted Applications Requiring High-Speed Internet Access

Your organization may host its own servers. Do they run websites APIs or data feeds for external offices? Are your company headquarters with a hosted application accessed by 50 branch offices? Perhaps you are in retail and host the point of sale (POS) system for thousands of stores? Do you run a law office that hosts the data for satellite offices in different cities or states?

If you host programs, data or information centrally, people outside of the central location need to have access. People can’t work if you have no Internet connection. Are you picking an intranet solution that provides reliability and stability for your multiple, simultaneous connections from various places?

If you have one office using the web, you may get by with a cable modem or a low- cost 10-megabyte circuit. High-speed access to The web is advisable for the headquarters. Gigabit Ethernet, Metro Ethernet or some other high-speed dedicated circuit is recommended. While high speed is great, you also need support for your multiple diverse connections. A cable modem would probably not be enough.

Which is Better for You in Minneapolis? Dedicated Internet Bandwidth or Shared Cable Circuits?

In some situations, there is a high price to pay for bringing in an inexpensive circuit or cable modem. Oftentimes, a lower monthly rate comes with the realization that you are sharing bandwidth with many different tenants and offices. While you may subscribe to a cable modem with a 30 Meg connection, you may be unable to reach those speeds during peak hours. Only a certain amount of bandwidth may be available in a community. Many cable companies have limits on the amount they can deliver. The bandwidth branches off to the multiple buildings, offices and tenants within them. While you may be capped at a 30 Meg speed, you may never be able to reach that speed during organization hours. Do you care if you only get 6 when you were set up to expect 30?

Other providers do offer dedicated and guaranteed bandwidth. With these options, bandwidth is yours. It is not shared with anyone outside of your business. You should receive full capacity of your circuits during all hours. This is true even though you may have many buildings, businesses and tenants nearby.

Five Meg, ten Meg, fifty Meg and 100 Meg circuits of guaranteed bandwidth are available with Metro Ethernet. Gigabit speeds from your office to the net can be reached if you use a gigabit Internet provider.

In these cases, the providers deliver high-speed to the building in sufficient quantity that they can then split their circuit to various tenants while guaranteeing each tenant is receiving their contracted speeds.

Backup With Minneapolis, Minnesota High Speed Business Internet Circuits

Circuits can go down in Minneapolis, Minnesota even though certain providers offer superior Internet bandwidth products. What can you do to minimize the chance that you will experience an outage of some kind?

Redundant circuits may be the answer for you.

There are, in reality, two kinds of redundancy.

The first type is when one single carrier provides you with multiple circuits. This provides some protection when there are certain failures. Multiple circuits can help for example, when there is a physical line issue or a problem with a router port. However, if that carrier has a greater outage to your entire region or there is a line damaged outside of your office building, you may have both or all circuits go down. While offering some protection, it is not without risk.

The second way to set up circuit redundancy is by using two different providers to bring in your circuits. For users and the public, you can make it look like you have one cohesive circuit. You can also make the connections act as a single circuit. You can do this with various advanced routers and IP address allocations. However, despite appearances, they are actually very much separate and are redundant to each other. This is called diversity redundancy and offers more protection that the first. If one carrier has a widespread issue, you have a carrier that will still be alive.

To maximize the benefit of redundancy, consider looking for redundant circuits from different carriers that have different pathway in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In other words, try to obtain circuits entering the building from different sides of the building. They would be on outside phone poles or underground conduits in different directions and leading to different places. If a major accident occurs or there is a fire that impedes the function of circuits in a particular region, you have redundancy in a different direction.

What Are the Costs Associated With Not Adequately Protecting Your Company High-Speed access to The net?

Although access to The Internet comes at a price, the price of unreliable Internet access is tremendous. Contemplate these scenarios:

Your organization telephone utilizes voice-over Internet Protocol, or VoIP as it is commonly known

Is your organization on a cable modem? How many other tenants is your carrier servicing in your building? Are 14 other offices getting circuits? During company hours, any of those tenants could be streaming video, performing massive file downloads, processing large volumes of phone calls and more. As they use more bandwidth, there is less for available to meet your needs. What happens to your phone calls? How will the quality of that phone call be affected? Are the calls going to be dropped? Will your voice be inaudible? Will you have difficulty hearing the other end?

Maybe your organization acts as a data center for various other locations

You may be an accounting firm that shares databases, a retail chain company utilizing a point of sale system or a law practice sharing files. Regardless of the specifics, your office is the hub for your enterprise. All of your places, you may have 2, you may have 500, you may have 4, 000, depend on your main Internet connection to access and receive data. How will you be affected if your circuit goes down? Is it just irritating? Is it going to cause tremendous problems? Can meaningful work be conducted at your remote offices? What happens to new orders? Can they be taken or processed? Share information? Before choosing a solution, be sure to assess and really understand what your business requires. Perhaps you are a software company, running a hosted solution used by hundreds of customers. You may operate a service like this: other systems speak with yours via an API to figure out freight rates, stock prices, to compile weather data or receive any other information that you provide. What happens when there is a problem connecting to your servers? How will repeated outages affect your customers? Will they remain customers?

You are a call center and you completely count on VoIP

Is the internet integral to the proper function of your organization? Do you count on it entirely? Should your circuits stop working, imagine your people being unable to make any outbound phone calls. They are also unable to answer calls. You are essentially out of business. For competent call centers that already use and understand the problems that can arise, is redundancy enough? Make sure your providers are as reliable as possible. Is the quality of service sufficient for your calls to be clear and reliable?

Picking the Right High-Speed Business Access Circuits for Your Minneapolis Company

You have several different options to pick from. Your decision will be based on different factors including your company needs and your budget. To summarize:

Internet Access Needs for Small Company

A single fifty, ten or five megabyte access to The net circuit may be sufficient to meet the needs of your small business, particularly if you have only one location and are not worried about redundancy. For an office in a lit building, you may find that gigabit service or Metro Ethernet are affordable options for you. Speak with our engineers about what is right for you. Prices vary with location and circuit availability.

Internet Access-One Location- Medium Sized Business

You have a mid-sized Minneapolis, Minnesota company; higher speed access to The web required. Your choices include: Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet or other high-speed circuits. Using different circuits and different providers will, if you choose, provide you with redundancy. It is sometimes possible to reach this without adding ridiculous costs. Using one 100-megabyte circuit instead of two 50-megabyte circuits, is one example. Again, costs vary. Availability also varies. You need to speak with one of our experts to determine your options in your specific location.

Internet Access and Your Mid-Sized Organization: What You Needs

If your organization has several sites or offices, you are at great risk for failure. Redundant circuits are essential. Multiple carriers would be great. Also, redundant equipment such as switches and routers in your facility can minimize the risk of downtime. As always, take a careful look and choose the right Ethernet access services, Metro Ethernet providers, gigabit Internet providers and other high-speed access to The web circuit providers. Finding the best combination of services, providers and equipment can go a long way toward helping your organization run as efficiently as possible.

Companies such as these require the following: Metro Ethernet, gigabit Internet and point-to-point (PPP) high-speed Internet circuits. Redundant hardware and redundant circuits will, for these businesses, ensure the greatest uptime. Be sure the circuits are from different providers. You do not want any slowdowns or interruptions that often occur during spikes in usage. Avoid this by having sufficient bandwidth. Both your hardware and circuits must be capable of supporting a vast number of simultaneous and fast connections.

Free Analysis: Internet Need and Demand

Insufficient bandwidth and failing circuits are present tremendous risk to your organization. Your ideal single circuit or multiple circuits should stay within your budget while still meeting your demands. The pressure involved in selecting the proper mix of hardware and circuits can be overwhelming.

We have engineers that will analyze your needs, look at your business requirements and develop an action plan for you… for free!After reviewing your current usage and demand levels, we will generate a cost effective plan that provides your company with the resources it needs.

Please call our office for an assessment appointment or click here to complete the contact form on the right side of the page. Your assessment may be finished within as little as 48 hours.